Beardsley Park cop pleads not guilty to brutality

Updated 12:37 am, Saturday, August 9, 2014

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins and his wife arrive at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident at Beardsley Park in 2011. less

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins and his wife arrive at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident ... more

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins retrieves his belongings after going through the metal detector at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident at Beardsley Park in 2011. less

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins retrieves his belongings after going through the metal detector at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in ... more

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins gets checked as he goes through the metal detector at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident at Beardsley Park in 2011. less

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins gets checked as he goes through the metal detector at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement ... more

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident at Beardsley Park in 2011. less

Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins at the Federal Courthouse in downtown New Haven, Conn. on Friday, Aug. 7, 2014. Higgins was indicted in his involvement in a police brutality incident at Beardsley Park ... more

A screen grab from a video, posted on YouTube on Jan. 6, 2013, showing three Bridgeport, Conn. police officers kicking a man in Beardsley Park on May 20, 2011. Officers Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive Higgins were put on the paid administrative leave Jan.18, 2013 pending an investigation of the incident by the city's Office of Internal Affairs. The man, who has not been identified, is lying on the ground after being Tasered by one of the officers when two of the officers begin kicking him. A third officer then gets out of his patrol car and walks over to where the other two are still kicking the man and then he too begins kicking him. less

A screen grab from a video, posted on YouTube on Jan. 6, 2013, showing three Bridgeport, Conn. police officers kicking a man in Beardsley Park on May 20, 2011. Officers Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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A screen grab from a video, posted on YouTube on Jan. 6, 2013, showing three Bridgeport, Conn. police officers kicking a man in Beardsley Park on May 20, 2011. Officers Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive Higgins were put on the paid administrative leave Jan.18, 2013 pending an investigation of the incident by the city's Office of Internal Affairs. The man, who has not been identified, is lying on the ground after being Tasered by one of the officers when two of the officers begin kicking him. A third officer then gets out of his patrol car and walks over to where the other two are still kicking the man and then he too begins kicking him. less

A screen grab from a video, posted on YouTube on Jan. 6, 2013, showing three Bridgeport, Conn. police officers kicking a man in Beardsley Park on May 20, 2011. Officers Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

Beardsley Park cop pleads not guilty to brutality

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NEW HAVEN -- It's a video that has been played over and over again: Bridgeport Police Officer Clive Higgins walking over to where two of his fellow officers had a man prone on the ground in Beardsley Park. The video shows the officer alleged to be Higgins steadying himself on one of the cops, and then kicking the prone man in the head and neck.

But Friday afternoon, Higgins, 48, didn't appear so spry as he leaned heavily on a cane and limped into federal court to plead not guilty to brutality charges.

"From the video, it's pretty clear he was the worst one," said Bridgeport lawyer Robert Berke, who represents Orlando Lopez-Soto, the person on the ground in the video. "He came upon the scene after the other two officers already had my client down on the ground and then he delivered several well-placed kicks."

Although his two fellow officers and defendants in the case, Elson Morales, 43, and Joseph Lawlor, 41, had previously accepted plea bargains calling for them to face up to a year in prison, Higgins had turned down the same deal.

On Thursday, he was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of violating an individual's civil rights by using unreasonable force in the course of an arrest. He could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

"The use of force is an issue that both the city and the police department take very seriously," Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said in a joint statement. "The incident in Beardsley Park doesn't reflect the outstanding work done every day by the men and women of this department. We expect a lot from our officers and the overwhelming majority of our officers do their job extraordinarily well. But when they violate the public trust, they need to be held accountable."

On the video, recorded May 20, 2011, by a passerby, Lopez-Soto, 28, is seen running from the right side of the frame when there is the electrical sound of a stun gun. Lopez-Soto falls face down in the grass and officers Lawlor and Morales run up to him and begin kicking and stomping him.

In the video, Higgins then pulls up in his patrol car, gets out, and leaning on Morales for support, also begins kicking Lopez-Soto.

"I'm surprised Higgins didn't take the same deal the other officers did," Berke said.

New York media, still reeling over their own case of alleged brutality -- the death of a man who had been placed in a choke hold on Staten Island -- were outside the federal courthouse.

Inside a third-floor courtroom, Higgins got slowly to his feet before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis and pleaded not guilty to the federal charge. The judge continued the case to Oct. 15.

She then agreed to release Higgins on $50,000 bond with the conditions that he turn over his service weapon to the two Bridgeport police officers waiting outside the courtroom.

Although he had been on administrative duty since the video went public in 2012, Higgins was suspended Friday without pay by Gaudett. And while he previously had his own lawyer, he is now represented by federal public defender Paul Thomas.

Thomas and Higgins declined to comment as they left the courtroom. Thomas told the judge that Higgins had suffered an unspecified leg injury, and thus needed a cane as he entered the court.

All three officers were 12-year veterans of the Police Department at the time of the stomping incident.

Morales previously apologized during his guilty plea and admitted he used a stun gun on Lopez-Soto a second time, which was unnecessary. Lawlor was less forthcoming.

Lawlor told a federal judge he struck Lopez-Soto unnecessarily, blaming it on "adrenaline, anger, the danger he put me in."

Lopez-Soto is now serving a 5-year prison term after being found guilty of criminal possession of a firearm, possession of narcotics with intent to sell and failure to appear in court in the case that led to the chase by the officers. The city recently agreed to pay him $198,000 to settle his civil rights lawsuit against the city, but much of that is expected to be spent to reimburse the state for his incarceration.

Lawlor and Morales had been riding in their patrol car shortly after 5 p.m. the day of the assault, when they saw a red van with tinted windows traveling eastbound on Shelton Street. They turned on their lights in an attempt to pull over the van, but it drove off at high speed. They pursued the van through the city's East Side, where they said it nearly struck several cars and blew out two tires during the chase. The van then drove into Beardsley Park, where it eventually became stuck in high grass.

Lopez-Soto leaped from the driver's door of the van, jumped on the hood of the police car and ran, the police report said.

"Myself and Officer Morales gave chase on foot and yelled to Lopez-Soto to stop or he would be Tased, but he continued running," Lawlor said in his report. "Fearing that he might have a gun, Officer Morales deployed his department-issued Taser and fired one shot at Lopez-Soto, striking him in the back. He immediately stopped running and fell face-first to the ground."

Lawlor said he grabbed Lopez-Soto's right arm and attempted to place it behind his back, but Lopez-Soto struggled with him, trying to get off the ground. Morales then used a stun gun on Lopez-Soto again.

Lawlor said he then handcuffed Lopez-Soto, who had a gun holster on his belt.

The officers said they then searched the van and found a loaded handgun on the floor, along with plastic bags containing suspected drugs.